Saturday 18 November 2017

Ignorance is bliss....

I’m not going to apologise for the length of time since my last post. If I’m honest I have been hiding in the safe place called “watch and wait”. Ignorance can be bliss!

I have been busy getting on with life. We have had a great summer with days out and family holidays. We had a fantastic couple of weeks away in west Wales and Cornwall with great weather and days spent walking and relaxing on the beach.

 
    Sunset on Perranporth beach.


   Seagulls settling down for the night.

 I’ve been hiking in the Brecon Beacons and finally completed a circular walk I’d been intending to do for a very long time taking in some of the highest peaks in south Wales.



My health is good. I’m back running and continue swimming. In fact I’d say that I’m fitter now than I have been in a long time. I believe exercise is a very important factor in staying well.

I spent the summer getting on with life. Pseudomyxoma seemed such a long way away and life was getting back to normal, even to the point it was before Pseudomyxoma made its shock appearance into our lives and I embraced it wholeheartedly.

I felt fit, healthy and was enjoying my family, friends and the world around me.

But the annual CT scan date in October was like an annoying alarm sounding someway off in the darkest depths of my mind. As the summer wore on the reality of my situation crept slowly forward to the front of my mind. I have Pseudomyxoma Peritonei and I am on “watch and wait”. By the time October had arrived and the CT appointment confirmed, the annoying alarm sounding in the distance had grown to a light house fog horn cutting loudly through the gloom.

Then in the weeks that passed after the scan had been done the “scanxiety” slowly grew. Week one is fine, you know you are not going to hear anything and its life as normal. Week two is similar, get on with life as normal but keep your mobile phone close by. Week three is different, you may get a call or letter and definitely don’t go anywhere with out your phone. By week four you are anxious…this is the point at which I usually cave in and call the specialist nurses to see if there is any news. Thats what happened this year….

I rang exactly four weeks to the day of the CT appointment. I initially got the answerphone and left a message. That was it, the die was cast and like it or not the answer was coming. I carried on with work, mobile phone just inches away on the desk. And then, less than an hour later a call came in from Basingstoke, it was time.

Linda Cass the Pseudomyxoma specialist nurse was on the other end of the line and advised that a letter had been posted some days before. It was good news! Nothing had changed, the areas of concerned had not grown and my tumour markers remained normal “which is encouraging”! They didn’t want to see me for another year with the next CT scan planned for October ’18.
Amazing news! I could feel the weight that had steadily built up over the last few weeks physically lift from my shoulders. Tracey and the girls will be thrilled!

The letter landed on the doormat the following day!


So there it is, I’m a free man for the next year at least. Pseudomyxoma can be locked away again for the next twelve months in the deepest darkest recesses of my mind. Time to plan some new adventures…..!